the four seasons
by theunhappytwins
Summary: 'would you still, even then, love me' kotoumi, based on a vocaloid song and one of umi's sif cards.


**AN: Okay. Okay. I'm trash, okay?**

 **Anyway, for those who need the context-this is based on the Vocaloid song Seasonal Feathers, which is based on the fairytale The Grateful Crane, which inspired one of Umi's cards in School Idol Festival.**

 **So I wrote this.**

 **winter**

Snow fell down on the fields around the small house, the flakes delicate and beautiful.

Umi couldn't help but look at them, eyes tracking them as they fell.

"Ah...we met on a day like this, didn't we?" That sweet voice was that of her lover, Kotori.

The two women couldn't marry, of course. It was against the law.

Even so, Umi and Kotori owned a house together, loved each other, worked together, and were married in all but name.

"...that's true." Umi felt the blood rise to her cheeks.

Kotori giggled, the noise musical.

 _It had been the dead of winter, when they had met._

 _Kotori had seen her, a girl standing in the snow, long raven hair cascading down her back, white kimono soaked with snow._

 _She had been strikingly beautiful, but...otherworldly, as if she didn't fully belong in this world._

 _Even so, Kotori had extended her hand._

 _"You'll get ill if you stay out alone in this weather. My house isn't much, but if you'd like to stay there..."_

 _And, for that moment, a connection was formed._

 **spring**

"Now, bloom! At the end of passionate hopes

Embark on a journey to meet your fate; brilliance lies beyond the wind

Someday, the answer will come to you

So to not forget kindness, let's bloom..."

"Umi, that was a beautiful song." Kotori's voice came from behind her, and Umi turned, clasping her hands to her mouth.

"Oh, I..." The black-haired woman's golden eyes widened.

"It's nothing. Your voice is beautiful, you know." Kotori smiled at Umi.

Umi's hands grabbed Kotori's wrist. "Kotori...please..."

"What?" Kotori asked.

There was a strange note in Umi's voice, as if she was about to cry. "Please...if I no longer had this voice, would you love me even then?"

"What?" Kotori stared at her.

"Please..."

"I'd love you. Of course I'd love you!" Kotori smiled brightly at her.

Later on, Kotori had a dream, a dream of a long time ago.

Once, she'd been walking along the path, when she saw a crane, its foot trapped in a hunter's snare. Even though she'd had other things to do, Kotori had stopped, freeing the crane and ripping off part of her kimono to bandage its foot.

And the crane had flown towards the sky, its white wings stark and beautiful against the grey clouds.

 **summer**

Kotori and Umi had a farm. The two of them worked together to harvest their crops, and it was how they made their living.

But, one day, Kotori had fallen to the ground, coughing, drops of blood coming from her mouth.

"KOTORI!" Umi ran to the brown-haired woman, holding her in her arms.

Kotori had smiled while wheezing for breath, her face pale.

The very next day, Umi had gone into the town.

The doctor had shook her head when she asked for medicine for Kotori. "I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money."

"...how much would it cost?" Umi asked desperately.

The red-haired doctor named a sum, and Umi felt the world fall out from beneath her feet.

There was no way. No way for her to get enough money, not in years. No way for her to save Kotori's life.

Not unless...

The next day, Umi went into the town again, where she sold a white cloth, softer and finer than silk. It was shockingly beautiful.

As she carried it, her fingers were wrapped with white bandages.

A week later, Umi held Kotori's hand as the brown-haired woman lay in bed, her head propped up with a few threadbare pillows.

Kotori's soft fingers twined with Umi's bandaged hand. "Umi...your hands are beautiful." The brown-haired girl smiled, her face beautiful despite the sunken cheeks and the blood stained around her cracked lips.

"...Kotori..." Umi's voice shook. "If someday...I didn't have these hands, would you still love me?"

"Of course." Kotori's too-hot hands squeezed Umi's.

 **autumn**

Umi had to work, she had to work. As she spun the feathers into beautiful cloth, as the blisters broke on her hands, even if the bones of her fingers broke, she had to work, she had to work. She had to save Kotori. She had to get the medicine. She had to save Kotori.

Before winter came, and took the one most precious to her's life...

She had it. Finally, she had the medicine. The black-haired woman clutched the box in her hands, holding it to her body as if it was her own child.

She fed the liquid to Kotori, going by the instructions the doctor had given her, hoping, praying that it would work.

When Kotori's cloudy amber eyes opened, Umi did her best to smile.

"Kotori...if someday..." Tears were beginning to trickle down Umi's face. "If someday, I were no longer a human, would...would you still love me?"

She'd plucked the last feather. She couldn't remain a human anymore. She couldn't be with Kotori anymore.

And-thin arms wrapped around Umi, and a face buried itself in her chest.

"Of course. Umi...I would always love you, no matter what you are. And I'll always...I'll always remember the crane that I saw that day!"

Umi was only able to hold her back for a brief instant.

But somehow, that instant felt like forever to them both.


End file.
